Recently, critics of women’s speech have moved on to the phenomenon of vocal fry. This is best described as “creaky voice”. It is a gutteral growl in the back of the throat caused by a slow fluttering of the vocal chords. Just like uptalk and “like”, it is a speech pattern commonly associated with young women and has been modelled by young celebrities, including Zooey Deschanel, Kim Kardashian and Britney Spears.

However, it is not just women using these patterns of speech. Rather, they are just the ones being penalised for it. Witness, for example, the use of uptalk. American research has found that both men and women use it. In the past 20 years, use of uptalk has transcended the boundaries of age and gender. However, men just don’t think they do it.

So why is it that only women are ridiculed for using such speech? Could it simply be sexism? Well, yes. No matter how women speak, people always seems to find a problem with it. When we use the embellishments noted above, we are seen as immature or stupid. Similarly, it has been found that when women speak in a forceful manner at work their perceived competence drops by 35% – a much bigger drop than men who behave in a similar way.

And of course, this criticism of speech patterns is not only directed toward women, it extends to people of different class, race, gender and sexual orientation. Basically, if you don’t speak in “proper English”, like those at the top of the speech hierarchy expect you to, you will be penalised.

But maybe, just maybe, the critics should stop worrying about the “sad decline…of speech and communication”. Instead, it should be recognised that it is young women who are the innovators and incubators of vocal trends. As has been identified by linguists, “women tend to be maybe half a generation ahead of males on average” when it comes to vocal trends. So, rather than grizzling about someone’s speech, critics should start actually listening to what they are saying. After all, it is the content that matters more than the perceived quality of delivery.